Board of Cricket for Control in India (BCCI) secretary Anurag Thakur has taken a U-turn on the issue of the Indo-Pak series, five days after he stressed on the need to engage with Pakistan.

According to a report in The Indian Express, Thakur said, “We cannot play cricket with Pakistan when people are dying on the border.”

“We want peace with neighbours. Even the prime minister Modi wants that. But Pakistan have to be serious on terror, “ Thakur told NDTV.

Earlier, speaking at The Indian Express Idea Exchange, the Lok Sabha MP from Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh had said that the dialogues between the two countries could be improved only by engaging more.

“I think you have to take a call (on) whether there should not be any talks. Let other countries go to UN and let other boards go to ICC for decisions, but you have to decide if you want to engage with them. So I think you have to decide diplomatically what call to take. If you engage (with Pakistan), then you can raise the issue of terrorism as well as cricket as well as trade. But if you don’t engage, you give that opportunity to someone else,” said Thakur.

Thakur had also voiced his opinion saying since India were playing cricket with Pakistan in different tournaments, there's no point why they shouldn't play a bilateral series.